A massive group of 21 runners ran along the canal path to Cleveland Pools. We did lots of jobs to help keep the grounds clean and safe. It was really exciting to contribute towards a historic and important part of Bath! We ran 3km in total.

Welcome Anni!

We met outside the leisure centre and I gave the introduction talk. We welcomed Anni to her first GoodGym run. It was great to have you come and join us, we hope you come back again!

After a quick warm-up we were on our way. We took the scenic route and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the canal path. I encouraged the runners to do some exercises by the side of the canal and we formed a conga line of walking lunges!

You don't pool me!

Our host, Sally, met us at the pools. The building and swimming areas at Cleveland pools date back to the Georgian period. In fact, it is the last surviving lido (outdoor swimming pool) that still exists in the UK. It fell into disrepair and hasn't been used since the 1980's. We have been to help maintain the grounds of the pool before, but since we last visited the team there have worked tirelessly to secured a game-changing amount of National Lottery funding. Hopefully with a further bit of fundraising the team can look to get regeneration work started and open up to the public again in the next few years.

Sally had lots of work for us to do and we split into teams.

Pool me once, shame on you. Pool me twice, shame on me!

A group of us donned our gardening gloves and tidied the grassy banks around the pool. We removed lots of sticky weeds, ivy and general weeds from the grounds and disposed of them. This is to stop them taking over the whole area!

We have hidden depths

A duo of runners worked together to 'fish' various weeds and plants out of the pool. They filled two wheelbarrows full of their treasure! Great work! Luckily we had Mark, our trained lifeguard, keeping an eye on things on this task! Thanks, Mark!

Another team were trusted with hand-held scythes and saws to cut down some aggressive stinging nettles that were taking over a patch of land. Their removal will make it easier for builders to eventually get work started.

Better great than never ... April pools!

A few of our number picked sycamore seedlings from the ground surrounding the buildings. If left, these seedlings will grow into fully-fledged trees which can disrupt the foundations of the buildings. It was an important job to nip in the bud!

Some of the runners worked together to clear other weeds and old tree roots that surrounded the old changing rooms. These pesky roots were starting to disrupt the brickwork and removing them means more of the buildings can be salvaged.

An old bra came to support us!

The rest of the runners were hunting in the disturbed ground near the entrance to the pools. They were acting like Indiana Jones and searching for any ceramic pieces of pottery that has been swallowed by the mud over the many years that the pool was used. We filled several tubs and the plan is for them to be made into a large mosaic by schoolchildren. Some of the odder things we found were half of a Lego character, a small rubber monkey and a very old and very disgusting bra!

Overall, it was great to spend the evening outside in the fresh air and make a valuable contribution to an important piece of our heritage in our wonderful city. Sally was really pleased with how much work we got done and we were really proud of our efforts.

Thanks!

Thanks Steph for backmarking for us and thanks to Sally for hosting us. Thanks for the pun this week, Catrin, and thanks to everyone for all the other puns included in the report!

Upcoming runs

• We have a great Community Mission on Sat 27th April at The Orchard
• We are also doing a really fun Community Mission on Sun 28th April as part of the 2019 Worldwide City Nature Challenge
• Next week: we are gardening at Donkey Lane
• In June there is an exciting race in Cheddar Gorge that some of GG Bath have already signed up for
• In June we are also helping at the Saltford Festival

On a dark and cold Tuesday evening, 19 volunteers ran to St Mark’s Church in Widcombe to paint the railings that surround the building. This importance maintenance work needs doing regularly, so GoodGym were called in to do the job! We worked hard in teams to cover all of the railings were were assigned. Our host, Phillipa, was incredibly happy with our work and we hope to come back soon to help out again!

Welcome to Abbey and Cameron!

We welcomed two new runners tonight, Abbey and Cameron. We were delighted to welcome them to the group at the beginning of the session. Both of them heard about GoodGym through a friend so if you know anyone that would be interested make sure to invite them along to join us!

After a quick warm-up we ran along the River Avon, across Widcombe Parade and met Phillipa outside the church.

Don’t paint on my parade!

This Group Run followed on from our task last week where we visited the church to scrub the old paint off of the railings. Phillipa and Alex, our hosts, kindly had all the paint and brushes set up for us. We donned some gloves and broke off into teams of 2-3 people to paint sections of the railings.

The church is frequently used by a variety of community groups for all-manner of activities. There are dog training classes, a children’s pre-school group and ballet classes. This task was important as we helped make sure the railings are insulated against the weather conditions so that the church can remain open and safe for all to benefit from.

Paint-ron saints of volunteering!

With our classic GoodGym enthusiasm and work ethic we finished most of the task earlier than expected. This meant there was time for more running for those that wanted it! At GoodGym we cater for all abilities and so when some of the group asked to do some more training Emma volunteered to take them up to Holloway to do some Hill Reps. This is a great technique to efficiently get some good exercise; especially if you live in hilly Bath!

After thanking Phillipa for hosting us, some of us ran back a longer route via Pultney Road, Great Pultney Street and then along the river back to the Leisure Centre.

Walk Leader

Thanks to Emily for very kindly volunteering to be our Walk Leader tonight. We had some takers who appreciated this new element of the Group Runs. This is a new feature of the Group Runs where members of Taskforce will lead a walking group to the task and back from the task. Members of Taskforce can sign up as a Walk Leader online when they sign up to a task.

Thanks to Chris for backmarking for us and thanks to Emma for leading the Hill Rep running session. And thanks to Joe for this week's pun!

Next week

Next week we are flyering for Send a Cow. They are to advertise their places in the Bath Half marathon. Sign up here!

Community Missions

• On Saturday 24th November we are flyering for Age UK. Sign up here!

We have organised a really fun pair of Christmas-themed Community Missions:

• On Saturday 1st December we will be helping set up the Saltford Santa Dash. Sign up here!
• We also be helping to marshall the event the following day on Sunday 2nd December. Sign up here!

Social Media

Please like/follow us on social media and share/retweet our content! We are on Facebook and Twitter

Organisations are already getting in contact with us through these platforms and this means we are securing more varied tasks for you to enjoy!